I am going to be away for 18 months and I figure I will be reading 75% of the time I am gone. Can you guys or girls help me out with some good titles or must reads. Climbing, Non-Fiction Adventure, Survivor(rescue missions), really anything but true crime, It has to be available in paperback, no hardcovers.

K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain by Ed Viesturs
Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life by Arlene Blum
Annapurna: A Woman's Place (20th Anniversary Edition) by Arlene Blum
Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains by Jon Krakauer
Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival by Joe Simpson

Mountaineering: ? The Freedom of the Hills by Kurt Hanson.
High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed by Michael Kodas
Touching My Father's Soul: A Sherpa's Journey to the Top of Everest by Jamling Norgay
Himalayan Quest: Ed Viesturs Summits All Fourteen 8,000-Meter Giants by Ed Viesturs
Seven Summits by Dick Bass

Minus 148 Degrees: The First Winter Ascent of Mount McKinley by Art Davidson
In the Shadow of Denali: Life and Death on Alaska's Mt. McKinley by Jonathan Waterman
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer
The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev
Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest by Beck Weathers, Stephen G. Michaud

Dark Summit: The True Story of Everest's Most Controversial Season by Nick Heil
High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places by David Breashears
No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
K2, The Savage Mountain: The Classic True Story of Disaster and Survival on the World's Second-Highest Mountain by Charles S. Houston
Annapurna by Janet Adam Smith
Everest the ultimate book of the ultimate mountain by Walt Unsworth
Faking It: How to Seem Like a Better Person Without Actually Improving Yourself by Ethan Trex (I need some comedy)

I have a small library of mountaineering literature and have read a few on your list. If you have any mountaineering aspirations at all then I would remove the books from your list that are about Mt. Everest. There may be some good reads in there- but those books won't offer much if you're looking to learn something about mountaineering.

I've read about 80 books or so mountaineering (some are out of print). The following are some of my faorites that might also be enjoyed by somebody new to the genre:

1.) Postcards from the ledge, Greg Child. Funny! I have read it more than 10 times!
2.) The Mammoth Book of Climbing Adventures: This thing is totally generic (the publisher makes a book for everything!)- but it HAS ALL THE CLASSICS. A must read! I used to read one essay before each day at the crag for inspiration.
3.) The Mountains of my life: Walter Bonatti: An autobiography from the greatest mountaineer of all time.
4.) Free Spirit: Reinhold Messner. An autobiography from the second greatest mountaineer of all time.
5.) Thin Air: Greg Child. An awesome book. A little more serious than Postcards from the Ledge. A classic
6.) The White Spider: Heinrich Harrer: The classic.
7.) Into Thin Air: Krakauer. You'll learn more about the author's ego than you will about that incident and climbing in general. But, I must say- Jon Krakauer is a great writer and Into thin Air is a very entertaining read. (You'll want to read Anatoli's book soon after...) A book for everybody.

There are obviously a lot of books that I am leaving out here... But the ones above are a good intro to climbing literature, in my opinion.

Then again, if you have the money and the time- go big and buy them all!

I have a small library of mountaineering literature and have read a few on your list. If you have any mountaineering aspirations at all then I would remove the books from your list that are about Mt. Everest. There may be some good reads in there- but those books won't offer much if you're looking to learn something about mountaineering.

I've read about 80 books or so mountaineering (some are out of print). The following are some of my faorites that might also be enjoyed by somebody new to the genre:

1.) Postcards from the ledge, Greg Child. Funny! I have read it more than 10 times!2.) The Mammoth Book of Climbing Adventures: This thing is totally generic (the publisher makes a book for everything!)- but it HAS ALL THE CLASSICS. A must read! I used to read one essay before each day at the crag for inspiration.3.) The Mountains of my life: Walter Bonatti: An autobiography from the greatest mountaineer of all time.4.) Free Spirit: Reinhold Messner. An autobiography from the second greatest mountaineer of all time.5.) Thin Air: Greg Child. An awesome book. A little more serious than Postcards from the Ledge. A classic6.) The White Spider: Heinrich Harrer: The classic.7.) Into Thin Air: Krakauer. You'll learn more about the author's ego than you will about that incident and climbing in general. But, I must say- Jon Krakauer is a great writer and Into thin Air is a very entertaining read. (You'll want to read Anatoli's book soon after...) A book for everybody.

There are obviously a lot of books that I am leaving out here... But the ones above are a good intro to climbing literature, in my opinion.

Then again, if you have the money and the time- go big and buy them all!

Happy reading!

Thanks a lot, yeah I know i wont learn much(mainly looking for a mental escape), and i am very new to climbing, but I am going to be locked in a box so i will have plenty of time, and I will have the money...Thank you for the suggestions, i will go look at them all now..

I tend to find an author that I like then read anything I can get my hands on from them. Here are some authors and titles that I have really enjoyed. While none of these are mountaineering books, many of them have travel or foreign locations as a central theme.

Ernest HemmingwayA Moveable Feast
The Old Man and the Sea
For Whom the Bell Tolls
The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

John SteinbeckCannery Roy
Travels With Charley
Of Mice and Men
The Grapes of Wrath
East of Eden
Log From the Sea of Cortez

Tom WolfeThe Electric Kool Aid Acid Test
The Pumphouse Gang
The Kandy Colored Tangerine Flake Streamline Babby
Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flack Catchers
The Right Stuff
The Purple Decades
The Bonfire of the Vanities
A Man in Full
I am Charlotte Simmons

Tom RobbinsAnother Roadside Attraction
Even Cowgirls Get The Blues
Still Life with Woodpecker
Jitterbug Pefume
Skinny Legs And All
Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas
Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates
Villa Incognito

Patricia Highsmith Ok, it is crime, but not true crime
Strangers on a Train
The Talented Mr Ripley
Ripley Underground
Ripley's Game
The Boy Who Followed Ripley
Ripley Under Water
Found in the Street
The Price of Salt